Line cord transformer



Feb. 24, 1948. w. H. BUSSEY LINE CORD TRANSFORMER Filed Sept. 15, 1945 gm i m g g W E Q 2 gm 2 Am,

Patented Feb. 24, 1948 LINE CORD TRANSFORMER William H; Bussey, Chicago,IlL, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Robert L. Kahn, trusteeApplication. September 13, 19.45, Serial No. 615,989

4' Claims. (01. 175356) 1 This invention relates to an electricalapparatus and particularly to a combined transformer and line cord. Incertain low power types of apparatus energized from the customaryalternatmay be of any suitable gauge and preferably should be fineenough so that flexibility of the cord is assured. The wire itselfshould be of suitable material for use in the transformer and ingcurrent supply circuit, it is desirable to obpreferably is of soft ironhaving a high degree tain either electrical isolation from the supply offlexibility. The individual strands of wire circuit or a voltage changeor both. Thus, with may be insulated from each other to reduce eddyfluorescent type of lights on the market, it is decurrents in any mannerwell known in the art. sirable to provide a high starting voltage of theThus, the wires may have a fine coating of enorder of 180 and reducethis to around 75 for amel or other flexible film, or reliance may benormal operation. had upon the oxide coating for insulation. Thus A1 1power lectric lamps which may be as an example, I have successfully useda bundle used in various ways may advantageously be of number 26 wire,which bundle had a diameter operated from 110 volt lines. Such lamps areof oneourth inchmade to operate at low voltage of the order of 1:, I mdiat y ou d core it is insulation H in one or more volts and operatefrom small dry any form whatsoever, here shown as a spiral of cells. Tooperate such lamps from a 110 volt thin flexible material. Thus, aribbon of paper supply circuit requires either a transformer or or anyof the various tapes on the market may a resistance. be provided.Varnish or other film forming in Low voltages are necessary for doorbells, buz- 2 sulation may be u zers and annunciators. Transformers forthese Around insulation C l -p W l2 s w purposes are commonly used andrequire special Wire l2 y have any desired gauge Suitable connections.for the purpose desired and, if heavy current In addition to the abovefields of use, small rryin cap ity is n c ry. wi I m y be portable radioreceivers operating from alter- Stranded o y be formed of a fiat ribbon.nating current supply circuits require different Looking from the l oFigure 1 Wn a on voltages for energizing the cathodes of vacuum Wire Clayer 52 of 101 W y be tubes and also energizing the plate circuits. Asa Wound around in the direction corresponding t rule, the transformer insuch a device is bulky o r g t-hand screw thread. Above layer I2 is andconstitutes a heavy space consuming item, copp W e l ye It Wound W apitch pp e In accordance with the invention herein, there o y r s t tthis w ld e ac rd n t a is provided a transformer fashioned toconstitute left-hand screw thread. In order to have the two a line cord.The transformer li d may b terminals of one transformer windingterminate manufactured in continuous lengths and cut to at the s end ofthe 00rd. it is advisable to use. A transformer embodying this invention3 vide a winding into tw r any v number has highly desirablecharacteristics. Thus, the 0f layers- Thus, layers 52 and y f m o etransformer has poor voltage regulation so that Windingshort eircuitingthe transformer secondary will Above Winding 4 y be insulating yer it ofnot blow ordinary house fuses or damage any ap nv h or y t e mat rial.Above Wiring. Any desired numb of windings may layer 16 are successivelayers 13 and f9 wound be provided on the transformer and complete elec-With Opposing pitch, these two b g f any suit trical isolation from thehouse supply circuit is able wire and forming the t p ti s of anassured.By providing connectors at th d other winding. Additional windings maybe added of the transformer line cord, inconvenient bulky if desired,and e outside o the 00rd y he transformers within any article such asradio covered with a layer of any material such as receiver may beeliminated. A transformer in rubber or tubular knitted C tton y otherthe form of a line cord has the further advantage material u s h ou r vri f c v nof having a high ratio of surface to mass so that tional linecords. heat dissipation is efficient. In the manufacture of such cord,core lo may For a more thorough understanding of the inbe fedcontinuously with the various layers being vention, reference will nowbe made to the drawwound around. Ihus, annularly moving spools ingswherein Figure 1 shows a view of a transwhirlin around a long centralcore to wind a former line cord in the process of manufacture. layer ofwir thr p r other m l re Figure 2 is a section on line 22. Figure 3shows H well known in the winding art. By feeding wire a length oftransformer line cord with parts broi9 forward in the direction of thearrow, namely ken away but provided with plugs and connected from leftto right and having the different layfor use. ers fed in the order shownin Figure l, the entire Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, the magnetictransformer core may be manufactured in incore of the transformer linecord comprises bundefinite lengths. Thus, the supply of insulation dleID of flexible magnetizable wire. The wire 69 H will go on core l0first, followed in succession prevent breakage and unravelling of wire.

by the various other layers. The places where winding of the variouslayers occur are staggered along the length of core Ill.

It is evident that adjacent spools containing the material for formingthe various layers will turn in opposing directions. Thus, spool II fortape I I may revolve clockwise around core looking at the core from leftto right. Spool [2 for feeding layer [2 will therefore revolveanti-clockwise. Spools l i', I6, I8 and [9' will follow successively.

In Figure 3, a length of cord is shown. It is assumed that this lengthhas been wound with all the various layers. Thus, end 23 of iron wire Itmay be anchored in a suitable connector 25. The ends of windings l2 andM, for example, may be formed as leads 2'! and '28 and provided withsuitable terminals. Windings l2 and I4 have ends 29 and 311 remote fromconnector 25, which ends are electrically connected together at 3|. Itis understood that these ends and joint 3| are suitably insulated andtied down to the cord proper. Thus, these two layers form onetransformer winding.

Similarly, layers iii and 19 have leads 32 and 33 respectively going toconnector 25. This connector is shown as the standard type for use in110 volt lines. Remote ends 3d and 35 of these windings are connectedtogether at 36 to form a through circuit for layers l8 and [9. Thefinished cord would have tape or other finishing 1naterial around theends of the cord adjacent the two connectors to provide a finishedmaterial and It is not necessary that adjacent windings be used to forma winding. Thus, layer 12 and layer l9 could form a complete winding.Any even number of layers may be connected together so that the twoleads are at the same end of the cord providing the pitch is such as tohave magnetically additive action. A connector plug for ends 27 and 28may be provided in which case the end of core Hi would be anchored.

If additional windings are provided, leads to other terminals may bemade at one or both ends. Separable connectors accommodating any desirednumber of wires are well known. Hence, additional leads from windingsmay be provided at either end of the cord and led to suitable terminalsto connectors if desired.

It is, of course, possible to have one transformer winding consisting,for example, of layers l2 and i as shown, and have layer It as onecomplete winding and layer I9 as another complete winding. It is alsopossible to break any layer into two separate windings. Thus, a cord sixfeet long may have a primary winding consisting of layers l2 and M. Thethird and fourth wire layers, here numbered as It and I9, may then beconnected for a portion of the length, say four feet of cord, whileanother winding electrically separate from 18 and 19 but consisting ofthe third and fourth layers of wire may be provided. Thus, differentwindings may be provided along the same layers of wire along a length ofcord.

As shown here, the outer layers are the primary. This is unimportant.For some purposes, it may be desirable to have the primary on theinside. It is evident that the core and windings have a length which, isgreat in comparison to the transverse dimension of the transformer cord.

It is obvious that, instead of transformers, reactors andautotransformers may be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

What is claimed is:

1. A transformer comprising a magnetizable core in flexible filamentaryform, windings helically disposed around said core and having superposedlayers with adjacent layers of opposing pitch, said windings and corehaving an axial length great in comparison to the maximum transversedimension, said core and windings being flexible and forming a linecord, and primary and secondary connections at the ends of saidwindings.

2. A transformer comprising an elongated bundle of flexible magnetizablewire, a plurality of windings helically disposed around said bundle toform therewith a flexible cord-like structure, said windings havingsuperposed layers with opposing pitch, a connector at one end of saidbundle and anchored thereto, said connector having terminals to whichthe ends of one of the windings may be connected, and terminals forother windings at the other end of said bundle.

3. A transformer comprising a long thin bundle of flexible magnetizablewire, a plurality of layers of wire helically wound around said wirealong the length thereof to form windings and having superposed layerswith adjacent layers of opposing pitch, said bundle and windings forminga flexible cord-like structure having a length great in comparison toany transverse dimension, at least one connector anchored to one end ofsaid magnetizable wire, said connector having ter minals to which one ofthe windings is connected for establishing circuit connections, andterminals for the remaining windings at the other end of saidmagnetizable wire.

4. A transformer comprising a long bundle of magnetizable wire, an evennumber of four or more superposed wire layers wound around said bundle,at least two wire layers being Wound with opposing pitch, the ends oftwo layers at one end of said bundle forming leads for connection to acircuit, the remaining ends of said two layers of wire at the other endof said bundle being an electrically continuous winding, said layersbeing magnetically aiding, the remaining layers being similarlyconnected to form continuous electrical windings, said bundle andwindings forming a long flexible cord, leads for one winding at one endof the bundle and leads for the remaining windings at the other end ofthe bundle whereby said transformer may be used as a line cord between apower source and a load.

WILLIAM H. BUSSEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name I Date 400,795 Root Apr. 2, 1889447,569 Kennedy Mar. 3, 1891 1,208,938 Finch Dec. 19, 1916, 1,722,362Wiley July 30, 1929 2,251,898 Sittler Aug. 5, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 1,212 Great Britain May 4, 1885

